What are microplastics doing to your brain? We’re starting to find outWed, 07 May 2025 17:10:00 +0100 The average human brain contains around 7 grams of plastic, but it’s unclear how this affects us. Now animal studies are revealing links to poor cognition and weird behaviour | |
Why physicists keep trying to get rid of space-time entirelyTue, 06 May 2025 19:00:15 +0100 Physicists are trying to ditch the concept of space-time – the supposed fabric of physical reality. Quantum columnist Karmela Padavic-Callaghan explains why | |
Can we get better at spotting when someone is lying?Wed, 07 May 2025 19:00:00 +0100 A reader wonders if they can become less gullible. Our science-based advice columnist David Robson has some surprising answers | |
What 7 fiendishly hard puzzles tell us about the nature of mathematicsTue, 06 May 2025 17:00:00 +0100 25 years ago, a $1 million reward was promised to anyone who could solve one of seven incredibly hard maths riddles. With only one of them now solved, what will it take to crack the rest? | |
Nothing is stronger than quantum connections – and now we know whyTue, 06 May 2025 23:00:15 +0100 The mathematics of graphs has helped reveal a principle that limits the strength of quantum correlations – and explains why physicists have never measured any stronger connections in some post-quantum realm | |
How to harness your emotions for a happier, calmer lifeMon, 05 May 2025 17:00:00 +0100 From anger to envy, research is revealing how to shift your mental state and put bad feelings to good use – with benefits for longevity, relationships and mental health | |
Climate drama Families Like Ours deserves to be a word-of-mouth hitWed, 07 May 2025 19:00:00 +0100 A disturbing new Danish TV series, which follows a wealthy family as rising seas force the evacuation of Denmark, is wildly popular in its home country. We should all be watching it, says Bethan Ackerley | |
Does intermittent fasting improve gut health? Why it’s hard to sayFri, 09 May 2025 22:17:30 +0100 While intermittent fasting may be growing in popularity, relatively little is known about how it impacts our gut microbiome – for better or for worse | |
AI hallucinations are getting worse – and they're here to stayFri, 09 May 2025 21:00:13 +0100 An AI leaderboard suggests the newest reasoning models used in chatbots are producing less accurate results because of higher hallucination rates. Experts say the problem is bigger than that | |
The everyday ways climate change is already making our lives worseFri, 09 May 2025 20:00:29 +0100 Extreme weather events are the most dramatic consequence of climate change, but there are many smaller ways it disturbs our daily life | |
Was a famous supernova an alien invader from another galaxy?Fri, 09 May 2025 18:00:07 +0100 Kepler's Supernova, seen in 1604, is one of the most famous exploding stars ever seen, and now astronomers think it may have been an interloper from another galaxy | |
Chimps share 'building blocks of musical rhythm' with humansFri, 09 May 2025 17:00:56 +0100 Just like humans, chimps have rhythm when drumming, which suggests that the trait evolved in our common ancestor | |
All living things emit an eerie glow that is snuffed out upon deathFri, 09 May 2025 15:52:44 +0100 Our bodies emit a stream of low-energy photons, and now experiments in mice have revealed that this ghostly glow is cut off when we die | |
Major US cities like New York and Seattle are sinking at a rapid rateThu, 08 May 2025 11:00:30 +0100 Groundwater extraction, plate tectonics and consequences of the last glacial period mean that most of the US's biggest cities are sinking | |
Is the fungal science in The Last of Us going off the rails?Fri, 09 May 2025 13:00:01 +0100 With season 2 unfolding, the science of the fungal horror drama is becoming shakier. It is a pity that the creators haven’t thought about terrifying scenarios of real-life infection, says Corrado Nai | |
Our favourite science fiction books of all time (the ones we forgot)Fri, 09 May 2025 11:00:18 +0100 Following on from our first list, we asked New Scientist staff to pick even more of their favourite sci-fi books of all time. From Isaac Asimov and Ursula K. Le Guin to Star Wars – the list has it all this time, we hope… | |
Europe increasingly vulnerable to hailstones the size of golfballsFri, 09 May 2025 10:47:29 +0100 Very large hail – hailstones more than 5 centimetres in diameter – poses a growing threat to Europe as the climate warms, with increasing risk of expensive damage to cars and property | |
These photos reveal the unique agricultural system of the Maya peopleWed, 07 May 2025 19:00:00 +0100 Combining sustainability, climate resilience and environmental preservation, the ancient “milpa” system of the Maya revealed in these images has been practiced for millennia | |
Marcus du Sautoy's new book is good on maths, less so on the artsWed, 07 May 2025 19:00:00 +0100 The mathematician is out to show the close link between maths and the arts. This idea isn't new, and while Blueprints is lyrical on maths, it falls a bit flat when it comes to covering artists | |
Failed Soviet probe will soon crash to Earth – and we don't know whereThu, 08 May 2025 22:20:41 +0100 Kosmos 482, a Soviet spacecraft that never made it beyond Earth’s orbit on its way to Venus, is due to come crashing down on 9 or 10 May | |
The maths that tells us when a scientific discovery is real – or notThu, 08 May 2025 10:00:18 +0100 When huge scientific discoveries are made, you may hear that they are “statistically significant” or pass a threshold called “5 sigma” – but those calculations can be manipulated to make claims seem grander than they are, finds Jacob Aron | |
Record heat in 2023 and 2024 may just have been natural variabilityThu, 08 May 2025 15:36:30 +0100 Simulations suggest that an extraordinary jump in temperatures seen in 2023 and 2024 could simply be natural variability, rather than a new phase of climate change as some researchers have suggested | |
What if we could experience life as another species?Wed, 07 May 2025 19:00:00 +0100 In this latest instalment of our speculative column Future Chronicles, an imagined history of future inventions, Rowan Hooper explores the pros (and cons) of networking our brains with those of other animals | |
The birds upending our idea of shared parentingWed, 07 May 2025 17:00:44 +0100 Superb starlings appear to swap between parent and ‘nanny’ roles to help raise chicks over their lifetimes, even when they aren’t related to them | |
Quantum computers could protect our data from quantum computersTue, 08 Apr 2025 13:20:18 +0100 A powerful enough quantum computer could crack the encryption methods currently used to protect data around the world, but the solution might be a quantum algorithm once thought to be completely useless | |
Would snails be better than whales for explaining big data? MaybeWed, 07 May 2025 19:00:00 +0100 Feedback's proposal that the genome of the blue whale could be used to communicate the scale of large datasets is knocked back by a reader with a radical alternative suggestion | |
Don't ban kids from social media; create a site that works for themWed, 07 May 2025 19:00:00 +0100 Rather than simply keeping children away from social media, we need a specially designed option for them. This is how it should look, says Michael Marshall | |
An expert's new book unravels the amazing secrets of the vagus nerveWed, 07 May 2025 19:00:00 +0100 Kevin Tracey's authoritative look at the vagus nerve and its healing potential is comprehensive and compelling, cutting through the hype | |
Dementia cases are rising faster in China than the rest of the worldWed, 07 May 2025 20:00:23 +0100 Cases of dementia doubled worldwide between 1990 and 2021, but more than quadrupled in China during the same period | |
99.999 per cent of the deep seabed remains unexplored by humansWed, 07 May 2025 20:00:09 +0100 Deep-sea submersibles have been diving for decades, but records show that we have still only explored a tiny area of the deep seabed, which makes up the majority of Earth's topography | |
Science is a Pandora's box – but we should open it anywayWed, 07 May 2025 19:00:00 +0100 We are often warned of the consequences of knowing too much, but even when scientific ideas have the potential to be harmful we should still seek to understand them | |
Strange microbes give clues to the ancestor of all complex lifeWed, 07 May 2025 17:00:32 +0100 The origin of complex eukaryotic cells, of the type found in all plants and animals, is shrouded in mystery. Now, strange microbes from wetlands in China are helping us to understand when they first emerged, and what they were like | |
Concerns raised over AI trained on 57 million NHS medical recordsWed, 07 May 2025 15:28:38 +0100 The makers of an AI model called Foresight say it could help predict disease or hospitalisation rates, but others have expressed concern about the fact it is trained on millions of health records | |
England has just given the thumbs up to gene-edited plants. Hooray!Wed, 07 May 2025 11:00:24 +0100 A UK parliamentary committee has greenlit gene-edited plants. This is great news, as it will boost food production and reduce waste, says Michael Le Page | |
A clean energy source may be lurking beneath mountain rangesTue, 06 May 2025 18:00:50 +0100 As the search for geologic hydrogen - a potential clean source of energy beneath the ground - continues, some researchers are turning to mountains | |
Chronic pain could be eased by learning to regulate negative emotionsTue, 06 May 2025 17:59:53 +0100 An adaptation of cognitive behavioural therapy that focuses on mindfulness and tolerating distress has shown promise for relieving chronic pain | |
Landslide rescuers to get help from rapid analysis of seismic dataTue, 06 May 2025 12:54:27 +0100 Being able to quickly pinpoint the location of events such as landslides and pyroclastic flows will help rescue efforts, say the team behind a new technique for doing so | |
Ireland's iconic megalithic tombs may have had an unexpected functionMon, 05 May 2025 09:00:56 +0100 Tombs that are scattered across Ireland may have helped bring ancient societies together for feasting and remembering their ancestors | |
Shingles vaccine linked with lower risk of many common heart problemsTue, 06 May 2025 01:05:36 +0100 Shingles is associated with an increased chance of health problems like strokes and heart attacks, but receiving a shingles jab seems to curb the risk of such cardiovascular problems | |
US government is using AI for unprecedented social media surveillanceMon, 05 May 2025 23:00:11 +0100 Under the Trump administration, multiple US government agencies are using AI and other tools to broadly track the social media of tourists and immigrants – and potentially to watch US citizens as well | |
Psychedelics may boost mental health by dampening inflammationMon, 05 May 2025 20:29:40 +0100 Psychedelic drugs like MDMA and psilocybin may help treat depression, anxiety and other mental health conditions by reducing the number of inflammatory cells around the brain | |
Quantum computers don’t always need more qubits – just add chaosMon, 05 May 2025 11:00:16 +0100 To create useful randomness in a quantum computer, you could add more quantum bits, but using quantum chaos does the trick too | |
Can running too far be bad for your health?Wed, 30 Apr 2025 19:00:00 +0100 There’s no doubt that doing some long-distance running improves our fitness, but at what point does it become too much, asks Grace Wade | |
Drugs like Wegovy can be effective at treating fatty liver diseaseWed, 30 Apr 2025 23:00:34 +0100 Semaglutide, a drug commonly taken for weight loss, showed marked benefits for most patients in a trial for metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH) | |
How vanishing Y chromosomes could help explain men's ill healthTue, 29 Apr 2025 17:00:00 +0100 The enigmatic Y chromosome has a tendency to disappear from cells with age. Now, research is revealing the long-term impacts this can have on disease risk and life expectancy | |
How a simple walk can bust stress, boost cognition and fight diseasesWed, 30 Apr 2025 17:40:00 +0100 We all know that walking is good for us, but growing evidence reveals that the right hike can exponentially enhance the health benefits | |
The 'impossible' particle hinting at the universe's biggest secretsMon, 28 Apr 2025 17:00:00 +0100 Neutrinos have always been hard to explain – and now the detection of one so energetic it shouldn't exist may help illuminate the strangest corners of the cosmos | |
The world, the universe and us: We're relaunching our weekly podcastSat, 03 May 2025 11:00:27 +0100 After 300 episodes of New Scientist Weekly, it's time for a refresh. Our flagship podcast has a new name but remains a show that can restore optimism and nourish your brain | |
This sensational novel shows what climate fiction can beWed, 30 Apr 2025 19:00:00 +0100 It can be difficult to work out which books count as climate fiction. Emily H. Wilson reads the shortlist for the Climate Fiction prize – and discovers Roz Dineen's powerful novel Briefly Very Beautiful | |
Bitter argument breaks out over controversial theory of consciousnessWed, 30 Apr 2025 17:00:14 +0100 Research aiming to answer the great mystery of how consciousness arises is continuing to spark debate, with arguments over whether one leading idea – integrated information theory – even counts as science | |
Disastrous back-to-back heatwaves and droughts surge across EurasiaFri, 02 May 2025 20:00:11 +0100 Regions from Ukraine to Mongolia are seeing a spike in paired heatwave-drought events as climate change alters weather patterns across the planet | |
Tiny rewards can protect the grid from a surge in electric vehiclesFri, 02 May 2025 18:10:12 +0100 As the number of electric vehicles increases, their increased demand could strain the grid – but small financial incentives convinced drivers to ease that demand by charging during off-peak hours | |
Dark energy bombshell sparks race to find a new model of the universeFri, 02 May 2025 13:00:46 +0100 ‘Shocking’ results from a major astronomical study have raised doubts about the standard model of cosmology, forcing scientists to consider new ways of understanding dark energy and gravity | |
Innovative antivenom may work against the world's deadliest snakesFri, 02 May 2025 17:00:12 +0100 Scientists have created an antivenom that has shown promise against some of the world's deadliest snakes after collecting antibodies from a hyperimmune man who exposed himself to their toxins | |
Extreme heat poses Spanish-style blackout threat to UK electrical gridFri, 02 May 2025 16:00:37 +0100 As climate change pushes summer temperatures to new highs, energy infrastructure such as cabling and transformers will struggle to cope | |
Brain signals can change the gut microbiome in as little as 2 hoursThu, 01 May 2025 22:31:33 +0100 We have known for years that the gut microbiome can alter brain function, but now research in mice is suggesting that the opposite is also true – that the brain modifies gut bacteria | |
Best evidence yet that dolphin whistles are like a shared languageFri, 02 May 2025 15:00:33 +0100 While dolphins are known to transmit information in their whistles, until now it hasn't been clear whether the marine mammals used the same sounds to indicate a shared understanding of a concept | |
Captivating images expose a 'staged version' of natureWed, 30 Apr 2025 19:00:00 +0100 In his series The Anthropocene Illusion, photographer Zed Nelson highlights the tension between an unfolding environmental crisis and our obsession with 'curating' nature | |
Welcome to a great, straightforward guide to the tree of lifeWed, 30 Apr 2025 19:00:00 +0100 Max Telford's new book, The Tree of Life, is a millennia-spanning exploration of the history – and future – of evolutionary relationships | |
Our cells can divide in a completely unexpected wayThu, 01 May 2025 20:00:42 +0100 A different kind of human cell division could improve our understanding of cancer and help us grow specific tissues | |
Hijacked cicadas play music like a cyborg loudspeakerThu, 01 May 2025 17:00:35 +0100 Cicadas can be turned into living speakers and made to play music such as Pachelbel’s Canon | |
Meta, Amazon and Google accused of 'distorting' key AI rankingsThu, 01 May 2025 16:52:26 +0100 A test of AI model performance across the industry is being gamed by technology giants, making objective scientific comparison impossible, researchers have claimed | |
How Greenland sharks live for hundreds of years without going blindThu, 01 May 2025 16:00:33 +0100 Greenland sharks show no signs of retinal degeneration despite living for up to 400 years, and scientists have identified genetic adaptations that may explain how | |
Key component of dark chocolate might have an anti-ageing effectThu, 01 May 2025 14:58:10 +0100 A chemical that is mainly found in dark chocolate seems to slow our rate of biological ageing, but it isn't clear if eating chocolate is good for us overall | |
'Dark photon' theory of light aims to tear up a century of physicsTue, 29 Apr 2025 16:27:03 +0100 One of the most famous findings in physics could be wrong – the double-slit experiment was long thought to confirm that light can be a wave, but its results can be fully explained using only quantum particles | |
The best new science fiction books of May 2025Thu, 01 May 2025 13:00:00 +0100 May’s new science fiction novels include a hot tip from our culture editor, as well as war on an alien planet from Bora Chung | |
Why do so many AI company logos look like buttholes?Wed, 30 Apr 2025 19:00:00 +0100 Feedback notes the proliferation of AI company logos, and agrees with one blogger's claim that many bear a striking resemblance to a certain anatomical feature | |
We may soon be able to hold fossil fuel companies to accountWed, 30 Apr 2025 19:00:00 +0100 A Peruvian farmer's case against energy giant RWE will be decided shortly. But it has already made history, says Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change lead author Friederike Otto | |
Does science have a future in the US?Wed, 30 Apr 2025 19:00:00 +0100 When politics and science align, it is easy to think science is apolitical. But the situation in the US today shows how science has always been fuelled by politics, says Annalee Newitz | |
Housework robots are a step closer as they learn to work in any homeThu, 01 May 2025 09:00:10 +0100 Robots often struggle to carry out tasks in places where they haven’t been trained, but a new AI model helps them clean up a mess or make a bed in unfamiliar settings | |
Robert Macfarlane asks if a river is alive in his provocative new bookWed, 30 Apr 2025 19:00:00 +0100 We should protect Earth's rivers and forests with laws. But it is another matter to recast them as actual life forms, as Robert Macfarlane's new book Is a River Alive? does | |
Your washing machine may not actually rid clothes of harmful bacteriaWed, 30 Apr 2025 20:00:24 +0100 Washing your clothing on high temperature cycles may not completely disinfect it, researchers have found, because washing machines don't necessarily sustain high enough temperatures | |
Let's remember that extraordinary claims need extraordinary evidenceWed, 30 Apr 2025 19:00:00 +0100 Several recent scientific findings, including signs of life on an exoplanet and 'de-extinction' of the dire wolf have caused a stir but when a claim seems too good to be true it probably is | |
Microplastics could be hampering the ocean’s ability to capture carbonWed, 30 Apr 2025 17:00:24 +0100 A global survey of microplastics in oceans reveals that tiny particles of plastic are prevalent throughout the water column, which could harm marine ecosystems and affect carbon storage in the deep sea | |
Deepfake makers can now evade an unusual detection methodWed, 30 Apr 2025 06:15:18 +0100 AI-powered deepfake videos with altered facial expressions can display realistic heartbeats through skin colour changes, which may hinder one deepfake detection method | |
Our wounds heal slower than the cuts and scrapes of other primatesWed, 30 Apr 2025 01:01:11 +0100 Human wounds take almost three times as long to heal as those of other primates, which may come down to our lack of fur | |
Trump administration jeopardises key report on climate changeTue, 29 Apr 2025 22:00:11 +0100 The Trump administration has dismissed all of the researchers working on the next installment of the National Climate Assessment, a crucial report on how climate change is affecting the country | |
Reddit users were subjected to AI-powered experiment without consentTue, 29 Apr 2025 17:00:58 +0100 Users of the r/ChangeMyView subreddit have expressed outrage at the revelation that researchers at the University of Zurich were secretly using the site for an AI-powered experiment in persuasion | |
Air filters in classrooms reduce sick days by more than 10 per centTue, 29 Apr 2025 16:00:31 +0100 Putting air filters in classrooms seems to boost student attendance, which may be due to them reducing levels of air pollution, pollen, pathogens or all three | |
A new version of the periodic table could change how we measure timeMon, 28 Apr 2025 19:00:46 +0100 An alternative periodic table of elements focusing on highly charged ions reveals new science that could support the quest for more accurate optical atomic clocks | |
US plans massive health database to study autism – will it work?Mon, 28 Apr 2025 22:48:25 +0100 The US government’s proposal for a vast health database to study autism could improve our understanding of the condition – but there is a risk it could do more harm than good | |
Humans evolved to survive mild burns at the expense of severe onesMon, 28 Apr 2025 13:29:18 +0100 Early humans had almost no hope of surviving severe burns, so evolution may have prioritised the selection of genes that heal mild ones, which could be affecting modern medicine | |
Earthquakes could be an overlooked source of underground hydrogen fuelMon, 28 Apr 2025 14:00:51 +0100 Laboratory measurements of crushed quartz suggest earthquakes generate huge volumes of hydrogen underground, a potential source of energy for life below the surface – and people above it | |
Virtual reality could help men understand the impacts of catcallingMon, 28 Apr 2025 13:00:23 +0100 Men who were embodying female avatars via virtual reality felt anger and disgust when catcalled, which could change the behaviour of some perpetrators | |
Is Keir Starmer being advised by AI? The UK government won’t tell usMon, 28 Apr 2025 12:32:41 +0100 The UK government's Redbox AI chatbot is being used by thousands of civil servants, but a lack of transparency about exactly how they are using it has experts concerned | |
First ever 'black hole bomb' created in the labFri, 25 Apr 2025 11:00:31 +0100 A black hole bomb – an idea first proposed in 1969 – has now been realised in the lab as a toy model made from a rotating cylinder and magnetic coils. Studying the bomb could help us better understand real black holes. | |
Should you water your orchid with ice cubes?Wed, 23 Apr 2025 19:00:00 +0100 There's a fierce debate raging in the horticulture world over whether adding ice cubes to your orchid is beneficial or damaging for this tropical plant. James Wong investigates | |
Can a strange state of matter explain what life is – and how it began?Tue, 22 Apr 2025 17:00:00 +0100 Laboratory experiments have coaxed simple molecules into states that naturally become more complex, hinting at the origins of evolution itself | |
Chronicling nature activism in a coastal corner of IndiaWed, 23 Apr 2025 19:00:00 +0100 Intertidal is Yuvan Aves's extraordinary, personal exploration of the rich wildlife offsetting the urbanity of Chennai, India. While its focus is a small strip of Indian coast, its issues are global | |
How astonishing observatories could do big physics from the moonWed, 23 Apr 2025 17:00:00 +0100 As humanity prepares to return to the moon, scientists also have ideas for huge lunar experiments that could revolutionise astrophysics | |
US government defunds research on misinformationFri, 25 Apr 2025 21:29:37 +0100 The US National Science Foundation cancelled funding for research on misinformation, disinformation and AI-generated deepfakes, even as misleading information runs rampant on social media | |
Chatbots can hide secret messages in seemingly normal conversationsFri, 25 Apr 2025 17:00:18 +0100 Text-generating AIs such as ChatGPT can be used to hide encrypted messages inside fake conversations, which could help people living under oppressive regimes communicate secretly | |
Ancient supervolcano eruption had surprisingly mild impact on climateFri, 25 Apr 2025 15:00:21 +0100 Rather than a volcanic winter, the Toba eruption 74,000 years ago resulted in several years of warm and dry weather, geochemical evidence from India suggests | |
Hackers could 'vandalise' quantum computers without people noticingFri, 25 Apr 2025 14:00:34 +0100 Hackers may be able to garble the output of programs running on quantum computers, leaving other people with unknowingly incorrect results - but thankfully, there is a fix | |
A dramatic rethink of Parkinson’s offers new hope for treatmentMon, 21 Apr 2025 17:00:00 +0100 Mounting evidence suggests there might be two separate types of the world’s fastest-growing neurological condition. Can this fresh understanding lead to much-needed new treatments? | |
Ancient camp shows how humans adapted to extreme cold in EuropeFri, 25 Apr 2025 09:00:41 +0100 An Austrian site occupied by humans from around 24,000 to 20,000 years ago documents a switch towards hunting reindeer for their fur, which may have helped people to endure harsh winters during the last glacial period | |
Photography contest spotlights the beauty of science in vivid detailWed, 23 Apr 2025 19:00:00 +0100 A collection of images from Imperial College London's photography competition uncovers the visual splendor of scientific discovery | |
'Bone collector' caterpillar wears dead insect body parts as disguiseThu, 24 Apr 2025 20:00:52 +0100 A carnivorous caterpillar species camouflages itself with dead insects so it can live safely alongside spiders, stalking their webs and stealing their prey | |
Signs of alien life on exoplanet K2-18b may just be statistical noiseThu, 24 Apr 2025 17:49:21 +0100 Last week astronomers reported hints of biological activity on a distant planet, but a re-analysis of their data suggests the claimed molecules may not be there at all | |
Oldest ant fossil ever found shows how ants took over the worldThu, 24 Apr 2025 17:00:28 +0100 A fossilised 113-million-year-old hell ant from Brazil adds to the evidence that the first ants evolved in the southern hemisphere before moving north – and beyond | |